Aelita Hopper
by 2remember
Summary: Jeremie thought that the birth certificate he forged for Aelita was perfect, but the school's attorney begs to differ. Is it 'Go Directly To Jail' for Jeremie and friends?


The characters Jean-Pierre Delmas, Sissi Delmas, Jeremie Belpois, Odd Della Robbia, Mr. & Mrs. Della Robbia, Aelita Hopper, a.k.a. Aelita Stones, Franz Hopper, Ulrich Stern, Yumi Ishiyama, Mrs Hertz, Jim Moralés, Nurse Yolande, and Michel Rouiller are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

* * *

"Mr. Delmas? Mr. Hopper is on line 1," the secretary informed him.

Jean-Pierre Delmas, Principal of Kadic Academy, was preoccupied with the end of the school year testing, and preparations for the End of The Year Dance. But he always had time for his friend, Desmond Hopper.

He picked up the phone, "Desmond, how are you today? What can I do for you?"

"I need to speak to you about Miss Aelita Stones," came the response over the phone, "the Della Robbias have once again claimed they never heard of her."

"My afternoon is open, let's talk after lunch," the principal replied.

* * *

"The Accounting Office has been dunning the Della Robbias for Miss Stones' tuition since the beginning of the school year. Each time, they would contact the office and state they have never heard of an 'Aelita Stones' before. It's getting to the point where we may have to expel both her and Mr. Della Robbia for non-payment. If we don't settle this out soon, the Board of Governors is going to find out and we both will be in trouble."

Desmond Hopper, Kadic Academy's attorney finished his statement. Principal Delmas considered the problem for a moment.

"Is there a possibility that Miss Stones deceived her way into the school? I personally examined her documents, including the letter from Odd's parents. As far as I could tell, everything was in order."

"That is another thing I'm worried about, Jean-Pierre. If this is some kind of deceit, it could mean trouble for you. Some members of the Board have never been very fond of you to begin with. This might give them enough cause to have you dismissed," Desmond replied.

"Well, perhaps you should look a little deeper into the situation, try and find out more before we confront Miss Stones," the principal said.

"I will. I'll let you know what I've find in a week."

* * *

The week passed quickly. It was Friday afternoon before he heard from Desmond.

"Jean-Pierre, we have a problem. I paid a visit to the Della Robbias this week. I showed them the letter they supposedly sent on Miss Stones' behalf. They never wrote it! The signatures aren't even theirs. I'm also beginning to suspect that the birth certificate she gave you is a forgery. A good one, but a forgery nonetheless. Also, did you know she has no health records, other than the physical she took a few months earlier?"

"No, I wasn't aware of that," Mr. Delmas replied.

"The only other medical history I could find on her was an Emergency Room visit towards the beginning of the school year. It is highly unlikely for a girl as old as she is to have such a scant paper trail, unless it is a fabrication."

"I can only agree with you, Desmond. What are we to do?"

"We may have to call the police. If the government finds out, the school could be in serious jeopardy. And we may both lose our jobs. But let me do some more checking, maybe I missed something. But we have to act soon."

"You do whatever you need to do, Desmond. I know that Odd and Aelita are not leaving the school for the summer recess. You should have plenty of time to do whatever checking you need to do."

* * *

That weekend was strange. It started out normally enough. Early Saturday morning, he left a note on his daughter's dorm room pillow, inviting her to dinner for her birthday. He did this every year for her and looked forward to the occasion. The dinner went as planned and they had a wonderful time together.

The next morning, however, Sissi woke up screaming. She had some kind of nightmare overnight, somehow connected with her mother. She had asked him how her mother had died, the first time she ever inquired. He had prayed that this day would never come, because he didn't want to relive those painful memories. But he told her everything, how Sissi had problems during the delivery, forcing the doctor's to perform a cesarean section to save her life. And that Sissi's mother started bleeding internally during the procedure, and died moments after Sissi was born.

Sissi then asked why the doctor's had to do the surgery, and he told her. Her face went paler at that than it had when he explained her mother's death to her.

When they were leaving to go to church to light candles in her mother's memory, Sissi suddenly said she had to talk to someone real quick and ran over to Odd Della Robbia, of all people. He grabbed her and looked her over as if he expected her to be injured. The look on his face said he fully expected her to be hurt or worse, and was relieved it wasn't true.

After that morning, Sissi began hanging out with Odd and his friends. It even got to the point that Sissi was sleeping in Aelita Stones' room with her by the middle of the week.

Also, that Sunday, Desmond dropped by, something he rarely did. He said that his worst fears were true, Aelita Stones didn't exist. He didn't have everything he needed yet, but it looked like Jeremie Belpois somehow forged Miss Stones' birth certificate last fall.

* * *

It was yet another week before he could do anything. But on Friday, Desmond finally said he had everything he needed to insure that the school wouldn't be in any trouble when they confronted the culprits. Jean-Pierre was now really concerned, since his only daughter was now in the middle of those 'culprits.'

They decided to confront Aelita and the others first thing Monday morning.

When Monday morning came, Jeremie, Odd and Aelita were still in their dorm rooms. Sissi had returned to hers on Sunday. Also on Sunday, Ulrich Stern had escorted Yumi Ishiyama home from an overnight visit with Miss Stones, and had not returned. Jean-Pierre wasn't too concerned, since it seemed that Mr. Stern and Ms. Ishiyama weren't involved in this scandal.

He had Mrs Hertz, the Science teacher, go and fetch Sissi for some drudge work, to get her away from the scene. He then sent Jim Moralés, Michel the grounds keeper, and Nurse Yolande to get Jeremie, Odd and Aelita. The time for the confrontation had come.

* * *

Someone was knocking on Jeremie's door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Jim. Principal wants to see you, now."

Jeremie went and opened the door. There stood Jim, their PE teacher, looking like a guard come to walk the condemned man down the Last Mile. Odd was standing next to Michel Rouiller, the grounds keeper having a firm grip on the boy's arm.

Jeremie gulped.

"Let's go," Jim said, grabbing Jeremie by his arm.

They were met in the lobby of the building by the nurse, escorting Aelita by the arm. The procession made their way to the Administration Building, where they were locked in the main Conference Room.

"Does anyone know what's going on here?" Odd asked as soon as the door was shut and locked.

"Not a clue," Jeremie replied.

"Me neither," said Aelita, "the nurse just said I had to come to the Principal's Office right now, and practically dragged me here."

The doorknob jiggled, then the door opened and in walked Mr. Delmas and a man none of them had ever seen before.

When the strange man walked in the door and saw Aelita, he stopped short, then staggered back.

"Oh my God, AELITA!"

Every eye in the room swiveled between the man and Aelita.

"This can't be! You're dead! Even if you somehow survived all these years, you haven't aged at all!" the man exclaimed.

The man staggered again, and sat down in a chair.

"Sir, who are you?" Aelita asked.

"Don't you remember me? I'm your uncle, Desmond!"

Aelita looked at the man. He did seem familiar. He almost looked like her father, Franz Hopper, except he was taller, not as chubby, and was more clean cut.

Then, a memory came to her:

_It was a party. It was her birthday party. There were adults standing all around, talking. One adult was talking to Papa. It was almost like there were two Papas, only one was just a little bit bigger. The bigger one turned turned to her and smiled._

"_Well now, if it isn't the birthday girl! Tell me, 'Lita, tell your Uncle Desi how old you are today?"_

"_I'm this old!" she told him, holding up four fingers._

_He picked her up and hugged her, "of course you are! And such a beautiful little lady you are too, just like your mother was..."_

"Uncle Desi?" Tears welled up in Aelita's eyes.

"Desmond, what is going on here? What are you talking about?" Mr. Delmas demanded.

"Jean-Pierre, you are not going to believe this, but 'Miss Aelita Stones' is my long lost niece. She disappeared with her father twelve years ago."

"Desmond, that's impossible! That would put her in her twenties now, and it's obvious even to me that Aelita here is no where near that!"

"Sir, I could provide an explanation," Jeremie said, "but I will only talk to Desmond here."

"Jeremie, you are hardly in a position to bargain..." Mr. Delmas began, but Desmond cut him short.

"I will speak to him, alone, Jean-Pierre. If he is lying, it won't make any difference."

The attorney led Jeremie from the room and to the Principal's Office.

Once there, Desmond spoke, "alright Mr. Belpois, start talking. How is it that my niece is sitting in that conference room, hardly aged a day from twelve years ago."

"First of all, sir, just who are you?" Jeremie asked him.

"I am Desmond Hopper, Franz Hopper's brother. I am also the school's attorney. You have never seen me here before today because my presence is rarely required on the campus. However, when you enrolled 'Miss Stones' here using forged papers, I was called in. And I must say, Mr. Belpois, your forgery was extremely good. If it wasn't for the fact that birth records are entered by hand into a record book, as well as entered into a computer, I would have never found you out."

"Oh."

"Now, tell me how my niece is sitting down the hall."

"Do you know what Franz Hopper was doing here?"

"Some kind of computer research. At one time, he said he was doing work for the government, but never elaborated."

"He built a computer in the old factory not far from here. It's an extremely powerful quantum computing system."

"Technobabble does not impress me, son."

"I'm just trying to give you an idea of the power of this computer. It's at least one hundred years ahead of any computer in existence now, and it was built twelve or so years ago."

"So it's a powerful computer. That doesn't explain Aelita."

"This computer is running a program, a simulated world, called Lyoko. Lyoko is as much a real place as this room we are in. Not only did your brother build the computer it is housed in, and wrote the programs that make it real, he also created a way for people from our world to enter that world, and live."

"That's insane! The technology hasn't even been conceived..."

"It is real, sir. Twelve years ago, Franz Hopper took his daughter and entered that world, and became trapped there. Three years ago, I stumbled upon Lyoko while surfing the 'net. Aelita spoke with me, and we got to know each other. I have spent my time since that day trying to get her out of the computer. Last fall, I succeeded. "

"And that explains her condition, how?" Desmond asked.

"As far as I can tell, the virtualization and de-virtualization process uses the subject's DNA as a template for constructing and deconstructing the person. The only DNA the computer has for Aelita is from when she was twelve or so years old. So when she was reconstructed during the de-virtualization process, she was rebuilt as a twelve year old, the girl in the conference room."

"And where is my brother?"

"He's still in the computer, somewhere."

"Can you show me this computer?"

"Yes, I can. But no one else but me, Aelita, and my friends know about it. Franz Hopper escaped from some 'men in black' by taking Aelita with him into the computer. I'm guessing they don't know about it, and we've kept it to ourselves."

"Why?"

"I can't go into that here. I'll explain the rest at the factory."

* * *

"My God, how did he build all of this?" Desmond exclaimed after Jeremie showed him the supercomputer.

Mr. Hopper had told Principal Delmas that he and Jeremie were going out for a while, so Jeremie could corroborate his story. They drove to the factory in Desmond's car, Desmond explaining on the way that Franz Hopper actually owned the factory grounds, and that he had been its caretaker, as Executor of Franz Hopper's Estate.

"You and your friends may explain the reports I have received of people moving about on the grounds. It is very fortunate that we met today, Jeremie, because I was planning on tearing the factory down to build a new office building."

"That would have been bad on several levels, sir," Jeremie replied, "one of the things I haven't mentioned yet is that the computer has a nuclear power source built into it."

"Nuclear power? I may have an explanation then. A month before Franz disappeared, some weapons-grade nuclear material disappeared from the power plant. The Energy Ministry somehow got the notion that Franz knew something about it. The 'men in black' you mentioned earlier may well have been agents of the Ministry, come to question him about that disappearance."

"This is part of what I wanted to show you, sir," Jeremie said, sitting at the console. He entered a few keystrokes, and a window appeared. The window was a file directory listing. Jeremie selected one of the files, and opened it. Another window opened up, and the first entry of Franz Hopper's video diary started playing.

After it finished, Jeremie said, "this is the first entry of around seven years worth of recordings, all of them with the same calendar date. One of the other capabilities of this computer is the ability to send people into the past. We have used it ourselves, many times, and Franz Hopper used it for around seven years to conduct whatever research he was doing."

"You would have to show me this capability in order for me to believe it, young man," Desmond said.

"Believe me, it's very tempting right at the moment," Jeremie said, "but there's a couple of reasons why it would be a bad idea to do it."

"One, by the end of his recordings, your brother was almost insane. Either returning to the past over and over did something to his mind, or just having to cope with reliving the same day over and over for seven years did the job, but Franz Hopper was not in his right mind at the end. I'm not sure, but that also may have played a role in his disappearance."

"Two. In his diaries, he spoke of something watching him. It could have been his insanity, but I don't think so. There was another presence in the computer. He had written a program, XANA, to help him in his work. This program was an Artificial Intelligence, and it grew more intelligent every day. With the returns to the past that Franz Hopper did, that program must have gained self-awareness. It also decided that it wanted out of the computer."

"So when Franz and his daughter virtualized themselves into Lyoko, XANA attacked them. It imprisoned Franz somewhere in the computer, and did something to Aelita so she lost her memory of her past life. Since then, XANA has been doing every thing it could to escape from the computer. Somehow, it gained the ability to influence objects in our world, and it would use those objects to either help it escape or try and damage our world somehow. Aelita has had the ability to stop XANA, temporarily, by going to an access point XANA has gained control of, and deactivating it. She has been doing this for three years now, and we have been helping her."

"Why did you not turn the computer off when Aelita came out of it?"

"XANA did something to Aelita that, until a few weeks ago, tied her to the functioning of the computer. If the computer were to be shut off, Aelita would die."

"What happened that changed this?"

"We found out from your brother that XANA took a portion of Aelita's memories. Without that, she couldn't be completely separated from the computer, for some reason. When we tried to get it back, XANA attacked us and stole the rest of Aelita's memories. As far as we knew, she had died."

"And that wasn't the worst of it. What XANA wanted was the access keys needed to completely control the access points in the computer. Franz Hopper had half of the required keys, so XANA got those when he originally captured him. Aelita had the other half. When Aelita was drained of her memories, XANA got the keys it needed and escaped the computer."

"If Aelita had died, then why is she sitting back at the school?"

"Your brother somehow restored Aelita's memories, all of them. We aren't totally sure what happened to him after that. We're hoping to find him and get him out."

"Surely Franz is gone by now, why not just turn the computer off?"

"I don't think so, Mr. Hopper. I have reason to believe that your brother is still alive and trapped in the computer, somewhere. I intend to find him and get him out."

"How do you know he is still alive?"

"I could tell you, but you would think I was crazy. I know that's saying something, given what I just told you, but you can see the computer here before you, as some kind of evidence that my story is true. I have no evidence that Franz Hopper is alive, but I believe him to be enough that I will search every memory circuit in that box until I find him."

"And what about this XANA thing?"

"I don't know. I know that XANA attacked me, Aelita and my friends almost immediately after escaping, but beyond that, I don't know."

* * *

The drive back to the school was quiet. Desmond Hopper spent the whole time thinking about Jeremie's story, and the equipment he found in the factory. Could it be that all of this was true?

By the time they got back to Kadic Academy, Desmond knew what to do.

Upon their return, Desmond went to speak to the principal.

"Well, what did you find out?" Jean-Pierre asked.

"Mr. Belpois told quite a tale, and had some evidence to back it up. He asked me specifically not to tell you though, and for the moment I will honor that request. Suffice it to say I am almost convinced that he is telling the truth, but I want to do one more thing. Are the children still here?"

"Yes, they are still in the conference room. They haven't been out except to use the bathroom since you left, and they have been under constant watch and escort. Mr. Della Robbia in particular has a bad habit of disappearing in unusual situations."

"Good," the attorney said. The two men adjourned to to the conference room.

Jeremie had joined his friends in the room when he and Mr. Hopper had returned. They all looked at the attorney now, awaiting judgment.

"Mr. Belpois was quite convincing. The evidence he showed me backing his story is very compelling, but not entirely so. There is one thing that will convince me however."

"Many years ago, Franz and his wife had Aelita tested. You all have noticed her pink hair, I assume. It is her natural hair color, and her mother was the same way. Franz was intrigued by that, and wanted his wife and Aelita tested to find out how this mutation occurred."

"Now, this was around the beginning of DNA testing, and it was unusual for such things to be done. But there was a school here in Paris doing genetic research, and had the necessary equipment. Both Aelita and her mother had their DNA sequences identified. No explanation was ever found for Aelita's hair color, but that is beside the point now."

"I still have in my possession the results of those tests. I want to perform a DNA test on Aelita, and compare the results to the original ones. If they match, I am prepared to believe Jeremie's story, as crazy as it sounds. If it doesn't, or if she doesn't agree to the test, then you all are in very deep trouble."

Aelita agreed to the test.

Desmond Hopper took Aelita to the same school that Franz and his wife took her so many years ago. He spoke with the Director of Genetics, who actually remembered the Hoppers from back then. He agreed to take the sample from Aelita, and compare it to the sample taken years before.

The blood sample was drawn, and the doctor said it would take forty-eight hours for them to do the comparison. They would know on Thursday.

* * *

The waiting was agony for the kids. Jeremie and Odd were confined to Jeremie's dorm room, and Aelita confined to hers, until the results were back. They were only allowed out to use the bathroom or to shower in the morning. Jim or the gardener would escort Jeremie or Odd to the bathroom when they needed it, and Nurse Yolande would escort Aelita. They were served meals in their rooms. They weren't allowed visitors. All computer access was cut off.

Then Thursday came.

Odd was sitting at Jeremie's desk, staring out the window. Jeremie was lying on his bed, willing his bladder or bowels to fill so he would have an excuse to get out, to get any kind of change of scenery. Then came the knock on his door. Jeremie and Odd stood up to meet their fate as Desmond Hopper opened the door and walked in.

"The tests have just come back. The sample matches exactly. She is my niece. And it seems that we need to have a discussion about the future."

He pushed back the door, and there was Aelita standing out in the hallway. She was smiling, with tears flowing down her face, the proud Niece of an Uncle.

* * *

Desmond Hopper paid Aelita's back tuition, as well as her tuition for the coming year. He also paid Odd's tuition for the year, as recompense for the trouble Odd's parents were caused.

Jeremie and Desmond had a long conversation about the supercomputer at the factory. Desmond agreed to allow Jeremie and his friends continued access to the property, but he wanted to be involved with whatever they did to rescue his brother, and confront XANA if it came down to it. He would also begin plans for the eventual decommissioning of the computer, once Franz was out.

Jeremie suggested that Desmond learn more about about the supercomputer, that he could substitute for Jeremie if Jeremie couldn't supervise Lyoko excursions himself. Desmond thought about it for a moment, then agreed.

It took a little planning, but Aelita's legal documentation was finally corrected. She was no longer Aelita Stones, but Aelita Hopper.

As to her appearance, it was explained as some kind of freak condition that slowed the aging process in her. She was being treated for the condition, and it looked like she would mature now at a normal rate. As for her mental capabilities, it seemed that Aelita had an extreme case of bad luck. In addition to all of her physical trials, something happened to her and her memory was lost to the point where she thought she was only twelve years old. It was terrible, really, and she had to be legally considered a minor, even though according to the calendar she was twenty-four years old, because of her mental state. Desmond said that he would make sure she was regularly evaluated, but he figured that for all practical purposes, she was twelve, or thirteen.

At Jeremie's request, Desmond never told Jean-Pierre Delmas the whole story about Aelita. That didn't set too well with the principal, but he trusted his friend, for the most part. But Jean-Pierre Delmas did something he thought he was totally incapable of. He set about spying on Aelita Hopper. And he used his daughter to do it.

He changed the dorm room assignments and assigned Sissi and Aelita to the same room. Sissi pitched a fit when she found out, but he told her that it would be good for her to have a roommate, and he wanted to know if anything odd went on with Aelita and her friends. Since she was now part of their gang, maybe she could find out what their secret was, something that Desmond knew but wouldn't tell him.

What Jean-Pierre didn't know was Sissi already knew the gang's secret, since she was now officially In On It. When she was first introduced to Lyoko, Jeremie asked her to keep it secret, even from her father, because if word got out, they might not be able to stop XANA when he finally attacked.

So, after venting her spleen, Sissi broke down and accepted her father's decision. Besides, it was only Aelita, how bad could it be?

* * *

In her dreams, Aelita was again with Jeremie that night she came to his room. She had helped him break free of the demon that had held him and he had relaxed and awakened. But this time, he didn't fall back to sleep...

_Whump!_

Aelita woke with a start and sat up. There, on the floor, was the object that had awakened her, Sissi's pillow. Across the room, Sissi was looking up from her bed, glaring at Aelita.

"Could you quiet down! I don't know about Right, but it's Time to shut up and go to sleep! And I almost _had_ him this time!"

As both girls settled back down to sleep, they thought, _this roommate business is going to take a little getting used to..._


End file.
